Francisco Rodríguez Acatl, a Mexican living in Barcelona for more than 30 years, is the coach of some of the best players on FC Barcelona's first team. On Tuesday, 5 November 2013, he attended a UIC event in which the university's competitive sports teams were presented and the sporting year was officially opened.
Around 100 members of this year's student sports teams and their coaches attended the event. Bruno Alesina, the new head of the UIC's Sports Service, spoke about the “importance of sport in the comprehensive education of each person who passes through our university”. He said, “It's an essential tool".
Alesina presented numerous developments this year, such as the creation of the Running Club, the padel tennis league and the signing of various sport agreements that will facilitate the entire university community's access to sporting facilities.
Next, Francisco Rodríguez Acatl, the event's guest speaker, talked about his day-to-day work. In addition to coaching FC Barcelona's first football team, Rodríguez Acatl is a member of the technical staff in the club's basketball division. He stressed that, in sport, “You have to know how to transform negative emotions into positive ones and how to use the strengths of each individual to make the team great”.
During the question-and answer session, he told a few anecdotes about great athletes. He was asked about the top two football players at the moment. "Messi is very good and will retire from football when he gets bored with it", he replied. "Cristiano Ronaldo, on the other hand, will quit when his body can't handle it anymore". He also talked about Mourinho's "intolerable" ego and what it takes to be a good coach.
The event concluded with photo sessions of the different teams that have already started competing this year.
